Middle of the Night Conversations
by lilsstr
Summary: Bella's life changes after a mistaken phone call from Edward in the middle of the night. How will their new found interest work when they have never met and live miles apart? All Human Rated M: Just in Case.
1. Chapter 1

_So this was something that I had originally written for another fandom, but I don't write for that fandom anymore so I'm making it an ExB story. It's only going to be about 20 chapters long for now. _

_Summary: Bella's life changes after a mistaken phone call from Edward in the middle of the night. How will their new found interest work when they have never met and live miles apart?_

_Rating: M just in case and for adult language._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyers does, but the idea and telling of the tale below is a creature of my own making._

_Big thanks to my Beta James and Pre-reader Karen. I wouldn't be able to do this without them. _

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

Chapter 1:

Bella's life was pretty uneventful. She was your normal twenty-seven year old female. She had a wonderful family, good friends and a job she loved. She lived in a modest cottage on the out skirts of the town she grew up in, only having left long enough to attend college in New York and London. After she finished medical school at Oxford, she returned to her hometown to spend a week before moving to Seattle and starting her residency at the only hospital she wanted to work at. Her parents were extremely happy to know that she would be working only two hours from her home town, and even helped her find the cute little cottage she was currently living in.

The only thing that was missing from Bella's life was love. She'd been so focused on school and her job that it had been pushed to the side. It wasn't that she wasn't looking for it, she just had always taken the path that if it was meant to happen it would. So unlike her mother and friends, she didn't dwell on her nonexistent love life. She'd been on dates, most set up by her mother or friends, but she'd never felt that connection to any of them. It had been the same in college and medical school. She'd date, but nothing long lasting. Her only true long lasting relationship had been in High School; but it didn't last past graduation when they both realized that a long distance relationship wasn't going to work. She'd remained friends with her first love and had even attended his wedding a few years back. He was happy and living in Denver practicing medicine while his wife taught elementary school.

Yawning she rolled over and looked at the clock, she couldn't believe it was only 12:30am. She'd been lying in bed recounting her life for the past 2 hours. Last night, after returning home from dinner with her best friend, she'd immediately gone to bed; but as tired as she'd been, sleep hadn't come. As tired as she was she couldn't fall asleep. This problem was happening more and more lately as she tried to put her life into perspective.

Her mother was reminding her daily about her desire to be a grandmother, and while her brother was happily married, he had yet to produce said grandchild, so now it was falling onto her. The problem was, Bella wasn't in a position to give her mother that grandchild. Her mother had even gone so far as to start setting her up more and more with the eligible sons of her friends. So far, like before, that spark that she was looking for wasn't there. A shrill ringing sound broke her out of her thoughts. Sighing loudly she reached for her ringing cell phone, the noise that woke her, and prayed it wasn't the hospital calling her back in.

"Lo?" She said sleepily

"Tanya?" She heard a deep voice ask from the other end.

"I'm sorry but you have the wrong number," she said with a yawn.

"Oh." The voice said sounding a bit distraught. "You have a very pretty voice," he said surprising her.

"Thanks?" She said shocked. "Well…since I'm not who you are looking for, have a good night," she told him.

"Wait!" He said pleadingly. "Look I know we don't know each other, but you have a really friendly voice and I've had a horrendous day and, well I just need someone to talk to," he told her.

"Um….." she said moving herself to sit up on the bed, knowing that it was a little crazy to even consider speaking with him.

"I know this is weird," he stated. "And I normally don't try and get strangers to talk to me, especially when I call them accidentally; it's just that…I have no one else to talk to."

"Is that why you were calling this Tonya person at 12:30 in the morning?" Bella asked him.

"Yeah." He said "I swear this was the number she left on my voicemail to call her. She's a friend from med school that I lost touch with after my residency. She had left me a message tonight telling me she needed to talk, and since I did too…I figured I'd give her a call."

"Ah," Bella said. "Sorry I'm not her, but I've had this number for a few years now."

"It's okay," he said softly. "You probably think I'm weird right? I mean trying to talk to some girl that I dial accidently. I'm not a serial killer or anything. And I don't normally try and converse with people that I've miss dialed...you just sound nice…and it's been a while since I've heard a nice voice."

"Yes, but how do I know that you're really not a serial killer or someone who is going to stalk me now?" She asked teasingly finding it easy to talk to him. Which, for her, was somewhat strange. She lived her life very guarded. It took a lot for her to open up to anyone, but there was something in this person's voice that drew her to want to talk to him…..even though part of her kept screaming for her to hang up, and go back to her safe life.

"You don't. I guess you'll have to take my word for it," he told her. "Plus I took an oath to save lives, not take them."

"You're a doctor?"

"Yes," He said. "I'm a neurosurgeon."

"Do you like it?" She asked him.

"Most days yes," he said. "But some days, like today, not so much."

"Why not today?" She inquired. "You said early your day was horrendous, did something happen?"

"Yes," he said quietly. "I lost a patient."

"Oh." Bella said knowing how it felt to lose someone you were trying to help.

"A five year old boy," he told her without her asking. "He fell off of the top bunk of his bunk beds and hit his head pretty hard. There was a bad bleeder and I couldn't stop it. I lost him five minutes into his surgery."

"I'm sorry," she told him wiping a tear that had fallen. "It sucks when you lose someone so young, but I'm sure you did all that you could."

"I don't feel like I did," he said. "I feel like I should have been able to stop it. I don't know how I missed it at first, I got the smaller bleeds stopped and was ready to close up, then his pressure dropped and there was all this blood."

"It sucks," Bella said, not knowing what else to say. "I know. It's even worse when it's a child. It makes you feel helpless."

"Exactly," he agreed. "And it's worse when you have to tell someone that their son will never grow up to be the things you wanted them to be, they'll never get to ride a bike without supervision, play ball, learn to drive, go on their first date."

"No child should ever die before their parent," Bella said sadly. "But sometimes, we can't save everyone. There are some things that, as a doctor, are out of your control."

"I know. But it still doesn't make it hurt less."

"I know," she said. "Was he your last case today?"

"No," he told her. "I had an 80 year old woman come in with lacerations to her head. She was in a car accident and hit her head on the windshield. She wasn't wearing a seatbelt." He said. "Her son told me that she wasn't supposed to be driving, she has Alzheimer's and doesn't remember that she has no license, or to put her seatbelt on. She just kept saying that she had to get to her Marty, her son."

"Is she ok?" Bella asked.

"She gave herself one hell of a concussion, but I think she'll make it," he said. "I'll know more after a few days of observation."

"I hope she's ok," she said.

"Me too," he said with a yawn. "Though we never know what tomorrow will bring."

"Tomorrow is your clean slate," Bella said after a few moments of silence between them. "Tomorrow you get to start over, and go back and make a difference in the lives of someone else. Tomorrow you get to save the next child, or grandmother that comes into your emergency room and needs your help. Today sucked, but tomorrow you get to try again, and you may not save everyone, but think about the families of the people that you will. They are the ones that make you going back in tomorrow worth it. They are your clean slate."

"You are very wise," he said. "Thank you for talking to me tonight, you didn't have to. You could have hung up on me."

"I thought about it, but it sounded like you really needed to talk," she told him.

"I did, and I enjoyed talking to you."

"I enjoyed talking to you as well," she said with a yawn.

"I should let you get to sleep," he told her. "I didn't realize how late it was."

"It's ok," she said noticing the clock now read 2 am. She was thankful she didn't have to work tomorrow at all. "I'm off tomorrow."

"Me too," he replied. "Well I'll let you go then, thanks again."

"You're welcome," she told him.

"I know this is strange, but can we talk again?" He asked quickly

"Yes," she said softly. "I would be ok with you mistakenly calling me again."

"Great," he told her. "It's nice to have a friendly voice to talk to. Well goodnight…."

"Bella," she told him. "My name is Bella."

"Well goodnight, Bella." he said.

"Goodnight….."

"Edward," he said

"Goodnight, Edward." she said as she hung up the phone. She placed it back on the bedside table and snuggled down into her covers. She couldn't believe she'd just spend an hour and a half on the phone with someone who'd called a wrong number. Smiling to herself she closed her eyes and wondered if he would actually call back, and she felt silly wanting him to.

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

A/N: Would you talk to a stranger that woke you up in the middle of the night? What do you think of Bella and Edward's conversation?

Reviews will get a teaser for the next chapter.

A couple of fic recs:

**Color of Loneliness by ExquisiteEdward**: She's almost done with it, but it's definitely worth a read if you haven't read it yet.

**To Destroy» by walkingwithgiants**: It's a different relationship for Edward and Bella, not too far into it so they are still developing, but it's a good read.

**Sideline Collision» by Nolebucgrl:** Footballward and Bandbella, it's a cute love story and excellently written.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyers does, but the idea and telling of the tale below is a creature of my own making._

_Big thanks to my Beta James and Pre-reader Karen. I wouldn't be able to do this without them. _

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

Chapter 2:

It had been a little over a week since Bella had heard from Edward. She had spent the week focusing on her work and trying not to think about the stranger that had called her looking for someone else and felt slightly weird that she had actually stayed on the phone with him, but there had been some slight desperation in his voice that had made her reluctant to hang up. She had replayed their phone conversation over and over in her mind trying to put her finger on what it was that kept her on the phone, but still hadn't figured it out; she just knew that if he called again, like he said he would, she would talk to him.

Bella hadn't told anyone about her late night mystery caller. She didn't want her friends to look at her as if she'd lost her mind. Especially since she was seen as the straight laced sensible one. The one that told her friend Rosalie it wasn't wise to meet her online boyfriend face to face alone. Bella had insisted to Rosalie that this person could be a serial killer and that she needed to take someone with her. Bella wouldn't give up until Rosalie finally agreed to have her brother Jasper and his wife Alice show up at the same place she was meeting him. Rose had been glad she had followed Bella's advice. While the guy hadn't turned out to be a serial killer, he had turned out to be a seventeen year old boy with a fake id.

Bella was the friend everyone went to for advice. She was the one that kept her friends grounded, gave her opinion and her support to her friends, never wanting to sound condescending or be seen as a know it all, she just cared. While she may not have always agreed with her friend's decisions and for a while there, most of the decisions they made, at least in Bella's eyes, were not good ones. She always supported them, always had their back…and they in turn always had hers. But Bella wasn't sure they would understand this.

As judgmental as Bella tried not to be about her life and her friend's life, she knew that her friends wouldn't understand this need she felt to speak to this man again. Being rational, a week later, Bella still couldn't figure out why she felt such disappointment when the phone rang and it wasn't him. The problem was, Bella knew that at least one of her friends had noticed something off about her, had seen the disappointment in her eyes one too many times over the week as she read her caller id. She tried to play it off that it was her ex, someone they all knew she didn't want to talk to, but she knew that her best friend, the person that knew her better than anyone, knew that she wouldn't be that disappointed to see his name on the screen. She continued to play it off as the week progressed and was happy when none of her friends, especially her best friend, brought it up.

She truly wanted someone to talk to about what was going on….and the weird feelings she had towards this guy she'd spoken to on the phone one time, but she didn't want to be judged for it, so she decided to call the one person, the one friend, that she could always count on, the one that had the same life outlook as herself.

"Hello?" She heard as her friend picked up.

"Hi Gayle, how are you my friend?" Bella asked.

"Bella, I am so excited that you called. I am doing wonderfully, how are you?" Gayle responded.

"I'm doing wonderfully," Bella told her friend. They had met at Oxford, both attending medical school there. Gayle now lived with her family in Atlanta.

"That is fantastic," she answered with a laugh. "I'm so happy you called, I was just thinking about you."

"Should I be worried?" Bella asked with a laugh a she settled onto the couch in her office.

"Absolutely not/ I was just thinking that we hadn't talked in a while and should catch up," Gayle told her "But since you are calling me and I know it's during working hours for you…something must be on your mind. So talk to me my sweet friend."

"You are going to think I'm crazy when I tell you this," Bella replied as she made herself more comfortable.

"Never," Gayle told her.

"About a week ago my phone rang in the middle of the night. It was this guy looking for some girl named Tanya. She had left him my number in his voice mail by mistake…probably transposed a number or something," she explained. "Anyways, he sounded kind of sweet and apologized, but asked me to talk to him. Said he'd had a bad day at work and I had a friendly voice, which he needed."

"And this is someone you don't know?"

"Nope, never heard his voice before," Bella answered.

"So did you talk to him?"

"Yes," she replied nervously while changing positions on the couch. "I listened as he told me about the little boy he'd lost that day. He's a surgeon."

"Hmmmmm a doctor," Gayle giggled. "Did you tell him about your day with your patients?"

"No….." she hesitated. "We didn't really talk about me. Just about him."

"And now it's been a week and you can't get his voice out of your head right?" Gayle asked.

"Right," she told her friend. "Plus he asked if he could call again and I said yes, but it's been a week and no phone call."

"So now, my over thinking, over analyzing friend, you don't think he's going to call at all?" she asked. "You are sitting there, and probably have been all week, constantly checking your phone for missed calls, and stewing about whether he was as nice a guy as his voice sounded. You are driving yourself crazy aren't you?"

"Yes!" Bella exclaimed. "You know me too well my friend."

"I do," she acknowledged. "And Angela hasn't picked up on this at all? She's perceptive that one."

"No. She probably thinks I'm just over working myself again," Bella told her.

"Oh I'm fairly certain you are doing that but as for this guy. Honey, if it was fate's way of bringing you your knight in shiny white lab coat, then he will call again…if not…." Gayle said in all seriousness. "Then it's no loss, you can't miss what you never had. Stop worrying your pretty little head about it and do what you do best."

"I thought worrying and overanalyzing was what I do best," Bella asked.

"Well yes, but you do have other skills," she agreed. "So go save the world one patient at a time and let whatever happens happen."

"Thank you, Yoda," Bella replied. "I appreciate you being there for me."

"Always now go save a life. I have a grandbaby to go cuddle."

"Yes, master," Bella answered before saying goodbye and hanging up. With a sigh she pushed herself off the couch and out of her office.

Several hours later, with a weary sigh she walked into her house and deposited her coat, purse and keys in a chair by the door before kicking off her shoes and curling up on her couch. She'd had a long day at work and all she really wanted to do was take a nice hot bubble bath and then crawl into bed and sleep for a week. The problem was now that she was on the couch; she didn't have the energy to move. Resting her head on the back of the couch she closed her eyes. She groaned moments later when the sound of her cell phone brought her out of the Zen place she had gone to in her mind.

"Yes?" She said answering it without even checking the caller id to see who it was..

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading. So who do you think is calling Bella?


	3. Chapter 3

_Summary: Bella's life changes after a mistaken phone call from Edward in the middle of the night. How will their new found interest work when they have never met and live miles apart?_

_Rating: M just in case and for adult language._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyers does, but the idea and telling of the tale below is a creature of my own making._

_Big thanks to my Beta James and Pre-reader Karen. I wouldn't be able to do this without them. _

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Chapter 3:

Edward felt like he was going insane. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He'd only spoken to her once, never met her face to face, but she was in every waking thought he'd had, well those that weren't about his patients, for the past week. He'd surprised himself at having asked her to stay on the phone with him… never having done anything like that before, but there was something about her voice that drew him in. He would have stayed on the phone with her all night if he could have. She had such a calming voice….as if she knew just the right tone to use, the right words to say….which lead him to the thoughts that perhaps he was speaking to someone older than him, someone with experience. Of course in the fantasies he'd had over the past week of her, she had a body built like Jessica Alba, but even as shallow as he was known to be, he felt inordinately drawn to her voice and didn't really care what she looked like. Though he did plan to find out a little bit more about her appearance and age the next time he spoke to her.

After checking his patient schedule he headed back to his office with every intention of calling her and apologizing for taking a week to call her back. He'd picked up the phone to call her several times but hadn't been able to because of being on call and having to back-to-back surgeries almost every night. It sucked; he wanted to talk to her again. He needed that connection he felt with her, that strange weird connection that he'd felt after just one phone call. Stepping into his office Edward shook his head, finding his younger half-brother sitting behind his desk, stopping and glaring at the intrusion when he realized that he wasn't going to be calling Bella today.

Edward shut his door and addressed his brother. "Don't you have your own office?"

"Yes," Emmett said as he finished what he was writing, "but I was leaving you case notes and figured I'd just write them in here since I have to leave the file here anyway."

"Which case?" Edward asked plopping down on the couch.

"Mr. Britoil," Emmett said. "The medicine we tried didn't shrink the tumor. It's time for you to do your magic, big brother."

Edward leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "I'll take a look at the chart and schedule him for next week,"

"Not tomorrow?" Emmett asked, surprised that his brother wasn't jumping at the chance to cut someone open.

"I'm off tomorrow," Edward said. "I've been on since Sunday and I'm about to drop. Even I, superman extraordinaire, need some time to recharge."

Emmett eyed him suspiciously. "Ok, who are you and what have you done with my egotistical, let's open them up now, I am God, little brother?"

"I'm tired." He said. "I've been non-stop, on more days than off, since I took the head of neurology position. I'll be good to no one if I can't stay awake during a procedure." He sighed….plus this would give him time to get some sleep and then call Bella. Or call Bella, find out some more about her, and then get some sleep.

"You know," Emmett moved to sit in one of the chairs closer to the couch his brother was occupying. "You've been acting differently since the day you lost the little boy. I know what it's like to lose a patient that young, but I've never seen something like that affect you like this before. In one week you've become more, 'let's review all the facts and then operate', instead of, 'straight into the OR'. Did something else happen? Did you get ahold of that Tonya chick? Is she why you're like this?"

Edward smiled slightly. "No. I never got a hold of Tonya. The phone number actually belongs to a girl named Bella,"

"Ok what's with the smile? Who is this Bella person and why would Tonya give you her number?"

"I like to smile," he told him. "I have no idea if Tonya knows Bella, but Bella is this amazing girl that I spoke to for an hour or so the night I lost the Rodgers boy. She stayed on the phone and listened to me talk about the loss of my patient when she didn't have to. She doesn't know me from Adam, but it helped. She helped."

"Wow."

Edward finally opened his eyes to look at his brother. "Wow what?"

"You like this girl. You've had one accidental conversation with her and you like her."

"What?"

"You do," Emmett said. "You are like smitten with this girl's voice or something." He teased his brother before continuing. "She could be hideous looking you know….just because she has a nice sweet voice and made you feel calm doesn't mean she's a looker."

Edward stood and started to pace. "What are you talking about Emmett I said she had a nice voice and that she helped me, not that I was running off to wherever she's from and marrying her."

"Ok." Emmett put his hands up in surrender. "I get it you're not marrying her. But you want to talk to her again don't you? You're going to call her; it's why you sneak away to your office all the time."

"I've spoken to her once, Emmett, we aren't having some torrid phone affair."

"But you're going to call her again aren't you?" He asked. "You want to have a torrid phone affair with this woman, that's why you haven't snuck off to a supply closet with the nurse de-jour."

"No, big brother, supply closets with easy nurses is your forte not mine." He told him. "And what if I do want to call her again, what if I've spent the last week replaying our entire conversation over and over again in my head? Maybe I want to get to know her, just have someone whose not here, not in the middle of my everyday life to talk to. Someone objective."

"Then I say go for it," he suggested. "In all seriousness you need someone Edward. You've been shut off from the female population, except for the occasional hook-up since Kate ran off with that Garrett guy. I say call her. Find out about her, see where it leads you. The worst that can happen is she doesn't answer when you call."

"She probably won't," Edward muttered sitting back down with a defeated tone.

"You won't know till you call, little brother," Emmett responded standing up "Call her, explain that you are the head of Neurology at one of the biggest hospitals in Atlanta and that you wanted to call before now but couldn't. Take the risk….you never know where it might lead." Emmett suggested while patting Edward on the shoulder and walking out the door.

Edward contemplated what his brother said as he drove himself home that night. He realized Emmett was right, he should take the chance and call her. The worst that could happen is that she doesn't pick up, but if she did pick up he could make a new friend. He felt drawn to her, that was for sure and he wanted to get to know her. So he resolved that he would call her as soon as he got home.

"Well here goes nothing," he muttered picking up the phone and searching for her name in his contacts list as he got conformable on his couch. He had felt silly adding her, but he knew he was going to call again so at the time it had made sense….even if he had added it five minutes after getting off the phone with her. Pressing the button he held the phone to his ear and prayed that she answered.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"Bella?" Edward asked when he heard her pick up the phone. "It's me Edward."

"Hi," Bella replied softly. "How are you?"

"I'm good, tired but good," he answered relaxing back into his couch. "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to call before now. Work has been hectic."

"It's alright. It's the life of a doctor," she mused. "I can imagine that you've been very busy."

"I have been, but I wanted to call you. I know it sounds weird saying that since we don't know each other, but I've tried to find a moment to call you all week," he informed her. "But I just took the position of Head of Neurology two weeks ago and I'm still trying to navigate my way."

"I understand," she told him. "I really do, I'm just happy you called. I won't say I wasn't a little disappointed that I hadn't heard from you, but I know you're a doctor and I figured that you were busy," she acknowledged, not wanting to voice the thought that maybe he didn't want to talk to her half as much as she did him.

"Thank you for understanding. I was honestly afraid that you wouldn't answer, that you'd think I was some crazy person, even though you said I could call again," he told her.

"No I don't think you're crazy," she told him. "At least not yet, I still have to get to know you first," she said with a small laugh.

"I think we should remedy that," he noted.

"Remedy what?" She asked.

"Getting to know each other," he told her as he stretched out further on the couch, trying to find a more comfortable position.

"And how should we do that?"

"We should play 20 questions," Edward replied with a hint of playfulness in his voice. It was the best way he could think of for them to get to know each other, no pressure and he was sure the old usual questions would come out. The what's your favorite color, film, music type and food. At least, he thought, they would be a good way to start.

"I haven't played that since college," Bella offered with a small laugh.

"Come on it could be fun. And what a better way to get to know each other a little better," he told her.

"Yeah but I'm not sure I can play this game sober," she told him.

"Drunk could be fun too," he laughed out. "Plus it might make you reveal a little more than you might normally."

"Oh so I should grab the tequila bottle then?" She asked with another laugh.

"Tequila works," he responded with a laugh of his own.

"Darn, I'm out of Tequila, guess you'll have to take your chances with the sober Bella," She told him.

"I can deal with that,"

"Well then fire away," she told him.

"Ok….let's see," he responded as he decided on his first question.

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A/N: So what questions would you ask?

A couple of fic recs:

**The Affair » by johnnyboy7 **

After the death of her father, Isabella Swan moves to the East coast where she meets dentist Edward Cullen. He's older, a father, and married. Sometimes, you can't tell your heart who to love.

**No Ordinary Proposal » by twilover76**

Bella wants to escape her small-town life and live her dreams in New York. What happens when a man almost twice her age makes her an offer she can't refuse? AH/M

**Holding On and Letting Go » by Jenny0719 **

Masen Valley, SC. Population: 10,789. It was a tiny dot on a map; an escape of sorts for Bella Swan. But when circumstances bring a certain member of Masen Valley's founding family back to town, she finds that the past isn't as easy to leave behind as she thought it would be... Or let go.


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry it's taken so long, I have an injury to my right hand that I'm working through and praying I don't have surgery on, so it's a little hard to type….that and I re-wrote this chapter a few times._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyers does, but the idea and telling of the tale below is a creature of my own making._

_Big thanks to my Beta and Pre-reader James. I wouldn't be able to do this without her._

Chapter 4:

It had been a long twenty four hours and Edward was tired. He'd just saved the life of a fifteen year old boy who had gone through a windshield when the car he was in collided with another car. Neither the boy nor the driver had been wearing their seatbelts, and both had been high. Edward sighed heavily as he sat down on the couch in his office and pulled out his phone. He smiled as he saw a text from Bella. They had just started their game of twenty questions when he'd been paged back to the hospital for the emergency. Opening his text he laughed as he read what she'd written.

_I hope the emergency went well. Sorry it ruined our game but we can still play. -Bella _

He noticed that the text came fifteen minutes after he'd hung up with her the night before. With a tired smile he hit reply.

_It was a long one. Fifteen year old boy went through a windshield, he's stable but critical. Hope your night was better. –Edward_

He hit send and then leaned his head back and closed his eyes figuring it would be better to get some sleep in his office than try and drive home. He was just about asleep when his phone beeped indicating he had an incoming text.

_It wasn't too bad, but today at work was long, heading home now. Getting some sleep? –Bella_

_I haven't yet, too tired to drive home. –Edward_

_I'm sorry I will stop bothering you and let you get some sleep. We can play our game after we both get some rest. –Bella_

_Sounds like a plan…..but I'll start now. Question 1: Favorite color? LOL –Edward_

_Green. Favorite Song? –Bella_

_Wow not asking for my favorite color interesting. LOL It's a tie between Faithfully by Journey and Wayward Son by Kansas. Yours? –Edward_

With a small laugh to himself Edward moved so he was lying down and closed his eyes while he waited to hear back from Bella.

"Interesting song choices," Bella said to herself as she made herself more comfortable in bed. She'd had a long day at the hospital. She'd stayed well after her shift was over so that she could monitor a four year old girl that had started her first round of treatment today. This was one of the hardest things she had to face being a Pediatric Oncologist. She hated watching children so young dealing with something they weren't old enough to understand…and Cancer was definitely something that any four year old couldn't comprehend. It was always hardest to explain what was going to happen to a child, but most of the children Bella had to explain it to were a little older. Her youngest patient until today had been an eleven year old boy who was facing his last round of chemo for the leukemia they were hoping wouldn't spread.

With a small sigh she replied to Edward's last text before placing her phone on her pillow next to her head and closing her eyes.

_Good choices on songs there, however I'll see your two and raise you one. Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, Claire De Lune by Debussy, and Heaven by Bryan Adams. Favorite color? LOL –Bella_

_Debussy? Classical, interesting choice ma'am. Hope your day is going better than yesterday. Favorite color is brown, not muddy brown, but chocolate brown. Favorite drink. –Edward_

_Everyone needs a little classical music in their life. My mom used to play that song when she baked. It's stuck with me. Favorite drink is Pepsi; I'm addicted to the stuff. Favorite city? –Bella_

_Claire De Lune was the first song I learned to play on the piano. It's also my mother's favorite. Was your mom a good baker? (Not my question). I love Tuscany. I love the small town feeling you get there. Yours? –Edward_

_Perhaps since these texts are getting so long we could try email? Mine is bswan –Bella_

_Sounds like a good idea. Mine is ecullen or drecullen . –Edward_

To: ecullen  
From: bswan  
Subject: 20 Questions

To answer your question my mother was an amazing baker, but she couldn't cook to save her life. It was sad. LOL. I love Tuscany, I wanted to move there before I went to college, but chickened out. Edinburgh is my favorite. I love seeing all that green with the majestic castles in the back. Favorite food?

–Bella

To: bswan  
From: ecullen  
Subject: Re: 20 Questions

I've never been to Edinburgh; I may have to add that to my bucket list. Favorite food….that is a tough one. I have entirely too many to pick just one, but I guess if I had to narrow it down to one it would have to be chocolate cake. I could eat it for every meal and never get tired of it. Yours?

–Edward

To: ecullen  
From: bswan  
Subject: Re 20 Questions

You definitely need to go there sometime. It was truly a beautiful place. Someplace I hope to get to go back to soon. Unfortunately, it won't be this year. Chocolate cake huh? I think that is everyone's favorite food. LOL I know what you mean about having too many to choose from. I have that same problem. However, my ultimate favorite is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. Never a bad time for that. Favorite Movie?

–Bella

To: bswan  
From: ecullen  
Subject: Re: 20 Questions

As soon as I got home from my shift at the hospital I added Edinburgh to my list of vacation choices. I can't help it, Chocolate Cake is the one food I could eat any time of the day or night and still want more. Can't say I've ever had the pleasure of eating Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. Maybe another thing to add to the bucket list. So there is a question I keep meaning to ask but haven't yet, and no it's not what are you wearing. I promise, and this isn't one of our twenty questions either, but what is it you do for a living?

-Edward

P.S. Favorite movie of all time.

To: ecullen  
From: bswan  
Subject: Re 20 Questions

That is great. I hope you get a chance to go there. I hope your shift at the hospital wasn't too long. Thank you for not asking me what I'm wearing, I don't think we are quite there yet. As for your question about what I do, I am a Pediatric Oncologist. I work at the Children's Hospital of Seattle. It's a tough job, but as a Neurosurgeon I'm sure your job isn't a walk in the park either. I got my youngest patient last week; she's four years old and has leukemia. She's just started her first round of treatment while we wait to find her a bone marrow donor match. Her mother and father have been tested, and found to not be a match. The next best match possibility would be one of her siblings, but her parents are being hesitant about testing their other children. I can understand their concern, but it's sad to see this little girl so sick. Sorry for going on like that. I'm sure that wasn't what you were thinking you would get when you asked me that question.

I still can't believe in the few weeks we've been emailing/texting/talking that I haven't told you what I do. I apologize for that. I wasn't trying to keep it a secret. Promise.

My favorite movie - that is a tough one, as I have several. I love White Christmas, Alice in Wonderland, Dead Poet's Society, Flight Plan, Independence Day, Because I Said So, and Pillow Talk. I know what a weird collection for favorites, but these are my _go to_ movies. Oh well those and the Harry Potter Series. LOL Yours?

-Bella

To: bswan  
From: drecullen  
Subject: Re: 20 Questions

It's ok that you didn't tell me, I never asked.

Those are quite a variety of movies. White Christmas is one of my mother's favorite holiday movies. She watches it every time it's on during the holiday season. I've seen it so many times I could probably recite the entire thing for you. Alice in Wonderland is also a great movie. Johnny Depp does a fabulous job as the Hatter. Harry Potter huh? I preferred the books to the movies, though I did have one patient tell me I looked like the boy that was killed in the Goblet of Fire. I don't see it. As for my favorite movie, like you I have a ton, but my go to movies are the Lord of the Rings Movies, Star Wars (the original three), all of the Die Hard, Mission Impossible, and Bourne movies, and Wanted…because let's face it who doesn't want to see Angelina Jolie with a gun?

I will have to add Thor, Captain America and Avengers to that list as well and there are others, but I won't bore you with them right now. LOL I have to end this short because I have a surgery in about ten minutes. Favorite childhood memory?

-Edward

P.S. How is the little girl?

To: ecullen ;drecullen  
From: driswan  
Subject: It's Bella

I'm replying to both emails since it's so late in the day and I wasn't sure where you'd be. I'm at the hospital. I'm on nights this week, which is fine for me. It gives me a chance to check in on my little patients. The little girl is doing the same; we did the bone marrow transplant yesterday. Her parents relented and let us test her twelve year old sister, and she was a match and wanted to help. Here is hoping that it works. I hate to see someone so young in so much pain. Being here at night gives me the chance to monitor her more than during the day as it's usually not as busy around here at night.

How's the world of neurology? Do you actually still get to treat patients or is it all paperwork since you're the head of the department? I know the head of my department bitches and moans because she is always stuck in meetings and doing paperwork and not with patients. I didn't know if it was the same for all departments at all hospitals.

My favorite childhood memory would have to be when I was ten and my parents took me for a weeklong trip to Hawaii. I loved it. I got to spend the whole week with my parents with no interruptions and no one I had to compete with for my parent's attention. Usually when we took trips my parent's best friends and their kids would go with us, and the parents always did their own thing leaving one of the older children to watch us. It was nice to finally get to spend an entire week with my parents with no one else asking for their time. It was one of the best weeks of my life. My dad and I learned to surf while we were there.

Yours?

Well I need to go do rounds….hope you have a great night/day.

-Bella

_I'm off shift, can I call you? –Edward_

_Yes, I'm just getting home. I'm off shift too. –Bella._

"Hello?" Bella said with a smile as she came into her house.

Edward sat up in his bed at the sound of her voice. "Hi." It was ten o'clock pm his time making it seven pm Bella's.

"You sound tired, Edward," she told him as she plopped onto her couch.

"I am, just came off a forty eight hour shift," he informed her.

"You poor thing," she giggled as she shrugged off her coat. "The life of a doctor."

"True," he answered. "How was your day?"

"It was long, Abby, the little girl, she had a bad day. We're afraid the transplant isn't working," she explained to him with sadness in her voice.

"That sucks, Bella, I know how much you wanted this to work for her," he told her as he imagined her in scrubs, it was hard to figure out what body type to give her as he'd never asked her what she looked like.

"I'm still holding out hope that it will work. We are going to run some new tests on her tomorrow."

"Good. As you said tomorrow is a clean slate, so you'll be able to go into it with a clear head," he observed.

"I hope so. So what about you? What's going on in your neck of the woods?" Bella asked as she made herself a sandwich to munch on while speaking with Edward.

"Not much," he informed her. "Same old same old. Looking forward to some time off."

"Big plans?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm going to visit my parents in Chicago."

Covering her mouth as she tried not to speak with her mouthful, she managed to get out, "I bet they will be happy to see you."

"My mother is excited about me coming home, she's called me no less than fifty times since I told them I was coming to ask me what I wanted for dinner, what I wanted to do, did I want to visit any friends from high school. It's crazy," he laughed as he rolled his eyes thinking about his mother's bubbly behavior.

"She's just ready to see her boy. I'm sure if I didn't live so close to my parents, my mother would act the same way."

He moved his pillow to allow him to sit up in his bed against his headboard. "Any vacation plans for you?"

"I'm thinking of visiting a friend of mine when I get some time off next month, not sure yet. We'll have to see how it goes, it will all depend how my case load is and if I have any new patients between now and then." She said stifling a yawn with her hand and moving the phone away from her mouth.

"I can understand that." He answered. "So do you want the answer to my favorite childhood memory or should I email it to you?"

"Damn," she hissed as a vibration from her pocket gave her the sinking feeling that her day was far from over.

"What's wrong?"

"My pager just went off, seems there is something wrong with Abby, I have to get back to the hospital," she informed him.

"I understand. Go be brilliant Dr. Swan and we can catch up another day," Edward tried hard to keep the disappointment he felt at having to cut their conversation short out of his voice. "I will email you my answer."

"Thank you for understanding."

"I'm a doctor too, if anyone can understand it's me," he told her.

"Have a good night, Edward, get some rest."

"I will, Bella. I hope things are ok with Abby and I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye, Edward."

"Bye, Dr. Swan." He yawned out as they hung up.

_It was great talking to you tonight. I hated that we had to cut it short. –Bella _

_No worries. Don't text and drive Dr. Swan. –Edward _

_I'm not driving; I'm walking to the car. Go to sleep Edward. –Bella_

_Be safe. Night. -Edward_

To: driswan  
From: ecullen  
Subject: re: It's Bella

Good morning, Dr. Swan. I hope it's a good one. How is little Abby doing? Not much going on here. I'm off today so I'm enjoying a quiet cup of coffee on my deck before figuring out what I want to do today. Any days off coming?

My favorite childhood memory. Hmmm that is a tough one… I was hoping you'd ask me a different question. LOL I'm going to say when I was eleven and Emmett, my brother, was nine. Our dad and grandfather took us to our first Cubs game. It was amazing. Just the boys. They bought us each a jersey, foam finger, and as many hot dogs as we could stomach. Emmett ate so many he was sick by the 8th inning, but we stuck around till the end. The cubs lost, but hey it was a rare day that dad and grandfather both had time off so we enjoyed it immensely. I think it was the last time we did anything with him before my grandfather passed. I still remember how much fun we had, he was always uptight around us, but that day he was as much of a kid as we were. It was great.

Bella, I just want to say that I've enjoyed getting to know you over the past few weeks. I'm really grateful that you answered the phone that night. I really was looking for Tonya, turns out that her number is two numbers different from yours. I finally found her and she was just looking for the number of an old friend of ours. But her mistake brought me my new friend. Someone who knows what I go through day in and day out. You really have become a good friend….I'm glad I dialed the wrong number.

Ok my girly moment is over. LOL Next question: Favorite guilty pleasure.

-Edward

A/N: What do you think of Edward and Bella's communication? What's your favorite vacation spot?


	5. Chapter 5

_Again sorry it's taken so long, real life has just gotten to me and I've had a hard time "seeing" where I want to take these characters. I do have to warn you this is probably going to be a short chapter, I think for the most part the new few will be so I can update quicker, as I have a ton of things going on in real life right now._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyers does, but the idea and telling of the tale below is a creature of my own making._

_Big thanks to my Beta and Pre-reader James. I wouldn't be able to do this without her. _

Chapter 5:

To: ecullen; drecullen  
From: driswan  
Subject: re: re: It's Bella

Good morning, Dr. Cullen, I'm sure by now you are safely ensconced in your office at the hospital. I would have emailed sooner, but this has been the first time I've been able to sit for more than five minutes at a time. Abby is doing better, but not out of the woods. We are watching her vigilantly, so I'm spending another long night at the hospital. I hope that you enjoyed our day off. I won't have another one of those till I know for sure that Abby is 100% better. As for the coffee, I'm already on my seventh cup and don't see that stopping anytime soon, so I will either end up crashing hard, or end up on the detox ward having some serious withdrawals. LOL

Wow, sounds like a great memory, and a great time was had by all, and you are lucky I don't remember either of my grandfathers, they both passed before I was born. Though I do cherish the memories I have with my grandmothers, both were amazing cooks and their houses always smelled like fresh baked bread or cookies.

My favorite guilty pleasure, hmmmm that is a tough one. I have so so many. Honestly I'm going to say watching old MASH episodes. I used to watch the show on TV Land with my dad, and now that they are all out on DVD, I watch them all the time. Anytime I'm stressed or bored, I pop in a season and go to town. No one, I mean no one knows I do this. Not even my best friends. And now I can't believe I actually told you this. I know you are probably thinking that it's silly that that is my guilty pleasure, but all of my friends think that most of the old shows are just for the older generations. They are all into the hip shows, in fact all of my friends swear by Sex in the City, ER and Grey's Anatomy. But MASH and St. Elsewhere are the shows that made me want to be a doctor.

Edward, I too have enjoyed the past few weeks. I never thought I'd ever feel a kinship with someone I had never met and only spoken to over the phone, but I feel one with you. It's weird, but true. I'm glad that you finally found Tonya and that is was nothing too serious. Most of my friends are either nurses or in law enforcement, so it's great to have another doctor to talk to about stuff as well. I feel the same about you, you are a friend.

Now…what is your guilty pleasure Dr. Cullen?

-Bella

To: driswan  
From: drecullen  
Subject: re: re: re: It's Bella

Good afternoon, or should I say goodnight where you are. I'm sorry to hear that Abby isn't doing well. I hope that she gets better soon. I hate when little children suffer, as I'm sure you do as well.

I have to say that I truly love your guilty pleasure. MASH is one of my all-time favorite shows. I too have them on DVD got them last Christmas from my parents, and I watch them as often as I can. When I first started watching them they made me want to become a field medic in the army. I almost joined too, but decided that my willingness to help people really didn't involve the chance of me being blown up or shot, so I opted for college and then med school. Still though, I've been thinking about taking a sabbatical and joining doctors without borders for a while. I think the experience would be good.

Now my guilty pleasure, the thing that no one knows about….I'm a complete war-type video game freak. I've bought and played every Call of Duty, Wolfenstein and any other type of war game that exists. I can't stop the addiction. It's scary. I spend almost all of my free time playing them, either on my Xbox 360 or on my computer. I've been addicted to these things since I was a kid, but no one still knows that I actually still play them. Not even my brother. It's like the one thing that I keep to myself. In fact I hide the games when my brother comes over so that he doesn't know that I'm still playing them. He thinks I keep the Xbox just for show. Though occasionally we play racing games on it when he's here.

I'm not really ashamed that I play them, I guess I've always just kept that "kid" part of myself private. I want everyone else to think of me as the responsible Dr. Edward Cullen, Neurosurgeon extraordinaire. LOL. Oh and it's ok if you think I'm a big geek now.

Next question: Favorite time of day. I don't think we've asked this yet.

-Edward

Bella smiled to herself as she read Edwards email. It had been a rough day and it was going to be an even longer night. She was extremely grateful for the sleep she knew she was going to get, it probably wouldn't be a full 8 hours, but since she hadn't slept much in the past 30 hours any consecutive sleep would be appreciated. She just wanted to read his email before she slept.

"What has you so smiley?" Rose asked as she entered the room startling her friend.

Looking up from her computer screen she blinked at her friend and tried to stop smiling. "Nothing, just reading a funny email my mom sent me," she told her friend as she closed her email.

Rosalie plopped down onto the couch in the on call room and stared at her friend. "That is not the smile of someone who is reading something funny, that is the smile of someone reading something that makes them happy. So my guess is that it's not an email from your mom, but from the person you've been no so secretly texting for the past few weeks."

Staring at her friend it took Bella a few moments to think of a response to that. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I haven't been secretly texting anyone."

"Right," Rosalie said with a raised eyebrow. "So you are denying that for the past month or so you haven't been holding onto your cell phone as if it was your lifeline?"

"I always hold onto my phone, I'm a doctor, Rose; this and my pager are my lifeline." Bella told her friend as she moved her laptop to the space on the bed between her and the wall. She had come into the on call room to sleep rather than trying to stretch out on her uncomfortable couch in her office. "You are acting as if I have some secret lover I haven't told you about."

Rose eyed her friend strangely for a minute before turning to stretch out on the couch. They were in one of the smaller on call rooms that only had one available bed. "You mean you don't? That isn't what Angela says. Angela said that you got a late night call from some stranger and that you are now talking to said stranger rather often."

Sitting up and glaring at her friend Bella couldn't believe the words she was saying. "And how does Angela know this?" She asked knowing she hadn't said one word to her best friend about this.

"She said Gayle told her." Rose informed her as she settled herself more fully onto the couch.

Fuming Bella suddenly felt too upset to sleep, she couldn't believe that Gayle would betray her confidence like that and tell Angela, hell she had no idea that Gayle and Angela talked on a regular basis. "Well both of them were wrong, and even if they were right, it's none of your business." Bella told her before lying back down on the bed and turning towards the wall away from Rose.

"Since when don't we tell each other about the men in our lives?" Rose asked with a yawn. "We've known each for a long time, and we've never kept secrets about this, why are you being so defensive about this anyway?"

Sighing Bella rolled over and stared across the darkening room towards her friend, the girl she'd roomed with freshmen year at college. "He's a friend, Rose, ok. Just another doctor at a hospital in another state that I talk to, there is nothing romantic going on." She told her. "Happy now?"

"Ecstatic, still don't understand why you didn't tell me, or any of us for that matter."

"Because I didn't want to be judged, especially after the way I was with you and that James guy." Bella said closing her eyes, wishing this conversation hadn't come up now, but at a time when she was way more prepared to talk about Edward.

"Look I'll drop it for now because we both need to get some sleep, but trust me this conversation isn't over." Rose told her as she fought another yawn. "Girls night Friday, no ifs and or butts and you can tell all of us about this email buddy."

"Whatever," Bella replied before rolling over and closing her eyes.

A/N: Uh oh…so Rosalie knows. Wonder what will happen on girl's night. Before we hear Bella and Edwards answer….what is your favorite time of day?

Again sorry about the short chapter, I promise that once things calm down for me I will post longer chapters, but until then I hope you enjoy the short ones and I promise I won't wait two months to update again. Oh and I promise more Edward and Bella interaction next time.


End file.
